


We Laugh,We Cry, We Fall, We Reach High

by LailaLiquorice



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Asexual Abby Yates, Autistic Jillian Holtzmann, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Oblivious Erin, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-11
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-08-30 10:23:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8529394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LailaLiquorice/pseuds/LailaLiquorice
Summary: Erin expected many things when she started college. New and exciting areas of Physics to study, living with her best friend, and leaving her parents and bullies far away.What she didn't expect is Holtzmann.College!AU with all your favourite troupes





	1. Chapter 1

Anyone who had spent 5 minutes with Erin Gilbert knew she liked order. Her half of the room was absolutely spotless, compared to Abby's side which she liked to refer to as 'organised chaos'. Erin's equations were impeccably written, with one line of working per line on the paper like elementary school children were taught. She got up at 7am regardless of what day of the week it was, and was in bed at 10pm every night unless Abby had a particularly good reason to keep her awake (the most common of those being X-Files marathons). And even though they had been at college for almost three months, in every class she would sit in the exact same seat she had sat in on her very first day.

So to arrive in Quantum Mechanics in mid-November to find someone else in her seat was not how she had planned to start her day.

"Just leave it, there are other seats free," Abby said, already heading for a pair of spare seats not far away.

Erin was tempted to agree with her; the class' roaring laughter after Abby had raised the subject of the paranormal in their first lesson was still fresh in her mind. But that was her seat, and the person currently sitting (with their combat boots up on the desk- Erin felt assaulted on the behalf of the wood) there was completely alone. It might not be hard to get them to move. Ignoring Abby's hissed protest, Erin headed closer to her seat to get a better look at its occupier.

From appearance alone, it seemed like she had never heard of the social normal that had been so important to conform to back in high school. Her blonde hair looked like she'd touched a Van de Graaff generator, and her clothing choices were unlike anything that Erin had ever seen. She'd never have guessed that a greenish jacket, burgundy pants rolled up at the ankle and mismatched neon socks would work together with a chunky metal necklace, but somehow she managed to pull it off.

After clearing her throat noisily failed to catch the woman's attention, Erin gave her a tentative tap on the shoulder. "Excuse me," she said hesitantly, immediately wishing she'd just gone with Abby as soon as she started speaking, "I know we don't have any assigned seats, but I've been sat here since the beginning of the semester so that's kind of my chair. And my desk," she added, her gaze flickering again to the combat boots. "Would you mind moving somewhere else?"

The blonde had looked up at Erin during her rambled question, looking at Erin through yellow-tinted glasses. After a brief moment where the woman looked her up and down while Erin felt like she was on fire, she flashed a million-watt smile and lifted her combat boots from the desk.

The sound of the door opening signalled Professor Rice's arrival, and Erin chewed her lip anxiously as she waited for the blonde to vacate her seat. The Professor had made his scorn for Abby and Erin very clear from the moment they had mentioned the paranormal, and Erin didn't want to give him another reason to dislike them. But with a swish of paper being swept from the desk the blonde was on her way, only pausing to drawl "See you around," over her shoulder before she was gone.

Erin sat down and tried unsuccessfully to shake away the mental image of that blinding grin.

* * *

 

"Did you want to head down to lunch?" Erin asked, taking her coat from the hook on the back of the door.

Abby looked up from her phone from where she was sat cross-legged on her bed. "I promised I'd phone mom and dad, but I'll meet you down there. Try and grab that table by the window?"

Erin nodded, making sure she had her student ID around her neck before leaving Abby to her phone call. She was reflecting wistfully that she had neither been contacted by or tried to contact her parents since she'd arrived at college, trying to convince herself that it was for the best, when a lone voice in the otherwise silent building caught her attention. She paused, unsure whether she was hearing things, before the voice sounded again and she realised it was a call for help.

All other thoughts abandoned, Erin listened again to try and work out where the voice was coming from. Her ears led her to the stairwell and down to the first floor, where a very unusual sight met her eyes. The eccentric blonde from Quantum Mechanics was sat in front of the vending machine, and by her awkward position on the floor it seemed like she had her hand stuck in the slot.

"Hello?" Erin called out, and the blonde's head whipped around to look directly at her. Her yellow glasses were missing, revealing eyes of a shocking cerulean blue. "Do you need some help?"

The blonde cracked another smile, though a pained expression lingered on her face. "Come here often?" she asked playfully.

"Well yes I do, because I live here," Erin pointed out.

"Figured as much," the blonde shrugged, but winced horribly as the movement tugged on her hand caught on the machine.

Spurred on by her evident suffering, Erin crouched down by the vending machine to take a closer look. "What happened?"

"Don't worry, I'm no thief," she flashed a grin at Erin, using her free hand to motion to a small box of Pringles wedged in the machine. "Paid for my chips but they didn't come out the slot, so I tried to pull them out myself. Then this happened."

Firmly ignoring the fact that something about the blonde was making her ears burn, Erin lifted the slot flap to peer inside. Sure enough, her hand was firmly jammed inside the machinery along with the pack of Pringles. When she noticed a thin trail of blood coming from where a piece of metal had broken skin she immediately abandoned the idea of carefully pulling her hand free herself.

"You should be able to move the mechanism by inserting something into the slot," the blonde suggested. "Would've tried it myself but can't reach anything good enough. There's a broom over there you could try."

Erin followed where she was pointing and saw a broom tucked into the alcove beneath the stairs, along with a vacuum cleaner and mop bucket. The tip of the handle looked and felt thin enough to fit neatly into the mechanism, so Erin kneeled down in front of the slot to get the best view while carefully poking the broom through the slot.

"Ok that's done something," the blonde nodded, before pain spasmed across her face. "No no no that's making it tighter, try the other way." Erin muttered an apology, switching the broom into her other hand and attacking from a different angle. When she let out a hiss of breath Erin glanced at her in concern, but she just gritted her teeth and motioned for Erin to continue.

After a few more turns and several audible clicks, Erin tilted her head to look back into the slot. "You should be ok to take it out now," she said.

"Hold on, lemme grab my chips," the blonde said, rooting around for a second before slowly extracting a slightly mangled hand and severely dented pack of Pringles.

Erin's stomach churned at the sight of the blood spread over her hand, but she forced away as she frowned. "How can you think of the Pringles at a time like this?"

"You try saying no to these salty parabolas," the blonde grinned, opening the packet with her teeth and offering it to Erin. "A gift for my saviour," she insisted.

Erin took the top chip before pushing the rest of the packet back at her. "Thanks... I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Oh right, we were never introduced earlier. Holtzmann; virgo, avid skier, gluten-full, and one-hundred-percent jazzed to meet you," she said, tucking the pringles under her arm in order to hold out her uninjured hand. "Might I enquire the name of my saviour?"

"It's Erin, Erin Gilbert" Erin said, shaking Holtzmann's hand tentatively.

"Nice to meet you, Erin Gilbert," Holtzmann nodded, crunching on a Pringle. "I don't suppose you know first-aid as well as how to free a girl from a vending machine?"

Erin shook her head hurriedly, still trying not to look at Holtzmann's hand. "I can't deal with blood. My roommate might be able to help though, she should be on her way down."

As luck would have it,Erin turned around to see Abby appearing at the top of the stairs. "You're still here? What kept you?" A pause, and then "Oh hey, Holtzmann!"

The look on Holtzmann's face was one of pure amazement. "Abs is your roommate? That's awesome!"

"We're known each other since high school," Erin nodded, glancing over at Abby. "How do you know each other?"

"We have Physical Engineering together," Holtzmann explained on Abby's behalf. Erin nodded in understanding; Physical Engineering was the one class that Abby took but Erin didn't. While Abby was just as enthusiastic doing practical physics as she was doing theoretical physics, Erin was far more comfortable sticking to her formulas.

Abby nodded, smiling brightly. "I was wondering if that was you in Erin's chair this morning- what have you done this time?" It was clear that Abby had just caught sight of Holtzmann's bloodied hand. Erin noted that although her tone was alarmed, she didn't sound at all surprised.

Grimacing, Holtzmann lifted her hand to examine it more closely. "The vending machine bit me while I was rescuing some Pringles, and Erin had to pry its jaws off me.

Erin nodded when Abby glanced questioningly in her direction. "That's the essence of it, yes," she confirmed.

Abby let out an exaggerated sigh, shaking her head. "Come here, let me take a look," she insisted, beckoning to Holtzmann who held out her hand obediently. Erin managed to steel her nerves enough to take a short look; none of the cuts seemed very deep since there wasn't that much blood, but the jagged edges made them look worse than they probably were. "I've got some antiseptic cream and a band-aid you can have," Abby said after a minute or two, rooting around in her rucksack.

"You're such a mom," Holtzmann grinned as Abby tended to her injuries, pulling a pocketwatch out of her jacket using the other hand.

 _Of course a normal watch would be too normal for her_ , Erin reflected.

Abby huffed, now sticking a large band-aid over the back of Holtzmann's hand. "I need to be. If it weren't for me and Gorin, you would have probably blown yourself up a month ago."

Holtzmann shrugged. "Ehh, probably. Oops, gotta run." She tugged her hand from Abby's grasp and slung a bag over one shoulder before heading for the door. "Abs, see you in class. Erin, see you around, maybe."

Erin was about to call out a goodbye, before her heart skipped a beat and her voice failed her. Holtzmann had just winked at her. Erin had just been winked at by an eccentric mad-scientist-in-training, and she could feel the blush spreading across her face. A nudge to her elbow made her realise she had been staring at the door, and she looked down to see Abby looking slyly at her.

"What?" Erin asked, but Abby's smile only intensified. "What!"


	2. Chapter 2

Being allocated the room next to the kitchen had initially seemed fantastic. It meant that Erin could run into the kitchen as soon as she woke up and put the kettle on the stove, then by the time she was dressed the water would have boiled. Abby wasn't bothered by being seen in the kitchen in her pajamas, but Erin was a little more self-conscious about those sorts of things.

There was the disadvantage that any noise in the kitchen carried straight through into their room. It wasn't really noticeable during the day unless someone dropped a frying pan (which happened during Fresher's Week and gave Abby the fright of her life), and their radio was usually enough to drown out any sounds from next door.

But as she lay awake and listened to the racket coming through the wall, Erin had to seriously consider whether the pros still outweighed the cons. With each crash she wrapped her pillow tighter around her ears, wondering briefly how far she could bury her head in the material before she came at risk of smothering herself.

A glance at the clock on her bedside table told her it was 3am, and she groaned quietly. Although they didn't have any classes until noon the next day, they had been hoping to catch up on some sleep after staying up late the last few nights writing a particularly beastly paper for Quantum Mechanics. It had been turned in that afternoon, and the rest of the day had been spent eating Chinese and watching X-Files before getting an early night.

A soft snore made Erin look over to Abby's side of the room, feeling incredibly jealous that she was somehow managing to sleep through the disturbance. But Erin had always been a light sleeper- being disturbed every night for over a year would do that to a person, she'd been told by her therapist.

The kitchen had been silent for a good five minutes so Erin closed her eyes again in the uncertain hope that she might get back to sleep. But within seconds there was another crash, and Erin had had enough. She lurched into a sitting position, threw back her duvet, and didn't bother being particularly quiet as she marched into the corridor, only just remembering to grab her student ID before the door shut behind her.

The shadow of a person on the kitchen floor reassured Erin that it was a person in the kitchen rather than a wild animal that had broken in through an open window. There was a rant about how some people needed to sleep ready on the tip of her tongue, before she saw who was in the kitchen and her brain could only form one word. "Holtzmann?"

Holtzmann closed the oven door before looking up, her unruly hair somehow even wilder than when Erin had last seen her four days ago. "Oh hey Erin," she chirped, as if cooking at 3am was the most natural thing in the world.

Erin met Holtzmann's smile with a blank stare. "What are you doing?" she hissed, "Do you know what time it is?"

"Ten past 3 in the morning." Holtzmann said after a moment's pause, glancing up at the kitchen clock. "I couldn't sleep, so I started taking apart my hairdryer. But I woke my roommate up and she told me to leave. She's not as cool as you."

 _She thinks I'm cool?_ Erin thought, her mind short-circuiting briefly before she stammered out "H-How do you know? You don't even know me!"

Holtzmann hummed thoughtfully. "You do Quantum Mechanics, which already makes you about a gazillion times cooler than her already. She's studying Politics." After pulling a disgusted expression, she fixed her blue gaze on Erin and continued "But you make a point. Tell me about yourself?"

"Uhm..." Erin started, stalling for time. She didn't really think of herself as an interesting person, let alone cool, and talking about herself was not something she was good at. "I come from Michigan, I'm studying to be a Particle Physicist, and I like cats."

"Star sign?"

That was something had never bothered finding out. "Er- January 15th?"

Holtzmann's eyes widened for a moment, before she smiled. "Capricorn. Interesting."

"Why's it interesting?" Erin frowned, confused.

"Do you like flapjacks?"

The question took Erin by surprise, before she noticed for the first time the packet of porridge oats on the worktop and the flour handprint on Holtzmann's shirt. Erin didn't think there was meant to be flour in flapjacks, but it was a little too late to point that out. "Yes, I do. Is that what you're cooking?"

"Yurp," Holtzmann nodded, squatting in order to peer through the oven window. "Why are you awake?"

Erin shifted slightly. Now that her anger had died down, she was reluctant to risk making Holtzmann feel guilty about keeping her awake. "My room's next door," she said, motioning towards the wall that connected the kitchen to her and Abby's room. "I'm a very light sleeper, and-"

"Oh," Holtzmann said, looking a little crestfallen.

"It's fine," Erin said hurriedly. "Why are you up?"

"I'm have insomnia episodes. When I can't sleep I do things, because then I get tired and sleep better afterwards." Holtzmann explained with a surprising casualness.

Erin nodded in acknowledgement as Holtzmann opened the oven, letting out a cloud of smoke. "Woops." Holtzmann said, taking a deep breath before reaching in and pulling a tray of very burned flapjacks out of the oven.

Erin was about to say something in consolidation when a blaring alarm made her jump; she thought for a second that the building was being burgled before she realised it was the smoke alarm. "Quick!" she shouted, grabbing a tea towel and waving it frantically below the alarm. Holtzmann kicked the oven door and flung open a window, helping the air to clear, and within a few seconds the alarm had shut off.

"We've probably woken the whole building now," Erin said, feeling the need to whisper though there no point in staying quiet anymore.

Holtzmann shrugged, grinning wildly. Erin had the feeling this wasn't the first time she had set the fire alarm off accidentally. "Too late to worry about that. You want to make another batch with me?"

If Holtzmann had asked her that as soon as she'd walked into the kitchen, she'd have refused without hesitation and told the other woman to go to bed. But she was oddly touched by the invitation, the part of her mind that demanded sleep was fast being drowned out by the want to accept. The decision was made for her when her stomach rumbled loudly, and Holtzmann's face lit up. "It's a yes!" she cried, pumping her fist into the air. "You grease another tin, I'll do the syrup."

Holtzmann switched the heat back on under her saucepan, tipping in an unmeasured quantity of sugar and golden syrup followed by a large lump of butter. All thoughts of the baking tray were chased from Erin's mind as she watched Holtzmann dancing on the spot in her oversized shirt and shorts, stirring the syrup so enthusiastically that she was flicking drops of it over the edge of the pan.

"Like what you see?" Holtzmann's voice brought Erin back to reality, though her wink threatened to send Erin's mind spinning again. She was holding out a roll of greaseproof paper, which she jabbed Erin in the stomach with until she took it with a murmur of thanks. Conscious not to be caught staring again, Erin left the tin of burned flapjack by the sink and found a second one to grease and line.

Movement in the corner of her eye made Erin turn to see another woman entering the kitchen behind them. "What on Earth are y'all doing in here?" she asked, taking in the sight of Erin and Holtzmann with an expression of astonishment.

"Making flapjacks! Want to join us?" Holtzmann said cheerfully. Erin caught the woman's eye and mouthed an apology, feeling the need to make it known that she wasn't responsible for this.

"You are far too happy for 3 in the morning," the woman grumbled, scrunching her nose briefly as she caught the smell of charcoaled oats coming from the burned tin. "So that's what set the alarm off. I didn't even know it was possible to burn flapjacks. Wait, are you putting flour in there?"

Holtzmann froze, the bag of flour poised just over the saucepan. "Um… no?"

The woman sighed, shaking her head in a manner that reminded Erin of Abby. "Guess I'll have to stay and help so you don't burn us to the ground. I'm Patty, by the way."

"Nice!" Holtzmann grinned, dropping the flour onto the worktop so she could shake Patty's hand. "Holtzmann, and this is Erin."

Patty joined them both by the stove, looking dubiously into the saucepan. The syrup was saturated in sugar and bubbling gloopily, making Erin even more certain that they had used the complete wrong quantities. "You two ever cooked these before in your lives?" One glance at Erin and Holtzmann's equally uncertain expressions answered that for her. "That's a no. Let Patty show you how it's done."

With Patty's help they were able to finish cooking the mixture using the right amount of ingredients, before pouring it into Erin's tray. "Now this'll cook for 15 minutes, and you'll get something that’s probably edible. Then maybe we can go to bed," Patty glanced at the clock as she spoke; it was nearing 3:30. "Thank God I'm not in class til the afternoon."

"Oh I have Nuclear Engineering in 4 hours," Holtzmann said.

Patty laughed. "7:30am class, you gotta be a freshman. I made the same mistake last year. But not anymore!"

"Erin? Are you in here?" Abby's voice sounded in the corridor, and Erin poked her head around the door. "Oh thank God, I thought you had been kidnapped! What are you doing, it's the middle of the night!"

"You'll see," said Erin with a resigned smile, leading Abby into the kitchen.

Holtzmann had hopped up to sit on the worktop to talk to Patty closer to eye level; Erin hadn’t realised how tiny the blonde was until she compared her to Patty. “Abby! We made flapjacks and a new friend!” Holtzmann shouted, gesturing frantically at Patty.

“It’s Patty, and this wasn’t my idea,” Patty said by means of introduction. “The alarm woke me up.”

“I’m Abby, and same here. But I thought it was the burglar alarm and someone had kidnapped my roommate.” Abby said, shooting a sideways frown at Erin.

Patty laughed again, and Erin couldn’t help smiling despite Abby glaring daggers into the side of her head. “Can’t say I blame you. So if you two are roomies, how’d Holtzy get involved?”

“Abby has a class with me and Erin rescued me from a vending machine on Monday night.” Holtzmann answered, winking again in Erin’s direction. Erin really wished she wouldn’t do that as she ordered herself not to turn red.

“You know what? Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.” Patty chuckled.

Abby shook her head. “No it shouldn’t. Not in the slightes-“

A sudden beep interrupted Abby, and Holtzmann slid off the work top with an excited “Ooh! Flapjacks are ready!”

“Flapjacks!” Abby echoed, watching in amazement as Holtzmann pulled the tray of perfect-looking flapjacks from the oven. “Patty I’m assuming you had a lot of influence here, since Erin’s cooking skills don’t go further than the microwave and I’ve never seen Holtz cook anything without it turning into charcoal.”

“Then I think I got here in the nick of time,” Patty smirked, showing Abby the first batch.

Abby grimaced. “Yep, that’s what I mean.”

Erin blinked in surprise as a slice of flapjack was shoved under her nose by a very enthusiastic Holtzmann. “Try it!” she urged, giving Patty and Abby a slice each and taking a large chunk for herself.

Holtzmann wasted no time before taking a massive bite out of her flapjack, with Erin, Patty and Abby following more slowly. There was a moment where Erin thought they’d done quite well, before she realised it was becoming increasingly hard to move her teeth. She covered her mouth with her hand as she tried to open her jaw to little avail, her panic lessening slightly when she looked up and saw that everyone else was having similar problems.

“Too much syrup,” Abby mumbled around her mouthful.

“Too much everything!” Patty added. Her wide-eyed expression screamed ‘what did I get myself into?’

Holtzmann was the only one looking like she was enjoying herself. Her tight-lipped smile and bulging cheeks suggested that she was struggling not to laugh, but after a second she started spluttering and coughing. Abby gave her a hard thump on the back which stopped her from almost choking, but all she had time to say was “Holtzy sorry!” before dissolving into giggles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you might have guessed, this is the traditional 'baking cookies at 3am in the communal kitchen' prompt that I swear has been used in every college AU going. But I got halfway through writing this before realising I had to change it to flapjack- if you've seen the blooper reel then you'll know why!
> 
> To anyone who's wondering about Erin's star sign, look up what signs are compatible with Virgo ;)
> 
> Any guesses as to who Holtzmann's roommate is?
> 
> And thank you for the amazing positive response!

**Author's Note:**

> So initially I hadn't planned on starting this for a good while yet. To be honest I hadn't even planned to do it at all, but I came across a good list of prompts on Tumblr and my brain decided it had to be done at some point. But I needed something to take my mind off of Tuesday's results, so here we are.
> 
> As a brief summary: Holtz is very gay, Erin is failing to convince herself she's straight, Abby is aroace but Will Go Down With This Ship, and Patty is in her second year and eternally exasperated by her freshman nerds.
> 
> I have no definite plot line for this, the plan is I'm just going to use my favourite college!AU prompts and see where they lead me. Your prompt suggestions and welcomed eagerly, come hit me up at lailaliquorice on tumblr :)


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